Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 October 2016
299. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when preliminary data will be available to report on progress on creating an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020 with 135,000 outside Dublin as per the programme for partnership Government; if this data will be made available before the end of 2016; if not, when in 2017 this data is expected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31338/16]
View answerThe goal of this Government is to support the creation of an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020 with 135,000 outside Dublin. This is a whole of Government effort and is delivered through our integrated Action Plan for Jobs.
The Action Plan for Jobs is one of the Government’s key instruments to support job creation. The Action Plan for Jobs process is working. Since the first Plan was launched in early 2012, there are 176,800 more people at work bringing total employment in the State to 2,014,400 by end of June 2016. The unemployment rate has fallen to 7.9% in September 2016, down from a high of 15.1% in early 2012.
We use the CSO Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) seasonally adjusted data to report on progress to meet national jobs targets. This data is published quarterly and the latest data available is for Q2 2016. There are 36,000 additional people at work in the first six months of the year. The target for the year is 50,000 additional jobs.
The Regional Action Plans for Jobs aim to have an additional 10 to 15% at work in each region by 2020. The first progress reports on the implementation of the eight Plans, covering the period to June 2016, are being finalised and will be published following presentation to the Cabinet Committee on Economy, Trade and Jobs, which will be held shortly.
The process to develop APJ 2017 is currently underway. I want to ensure that the 2017 Plan is ambitious and impactful and keeps us on track to deliver on our 2020 jobs target.
